Virtuous Roman Apuleius example essay topic

Duumvir, Citizen, Defendant, Priest and Philosopher are a few names that Apuleius Madaurensis wears during his lifetime. Apuleius encounters both ends of the wealth during Roman times. His experience of the broad spectrum of Roman life did not stop with only wealth but Apuleius also travels to and from provinces of Rome, Rome itself, Egypt, Carthage, and even Greece. These ordeals established Apuleius as a distinguished rhetorician, remarkable scholar, great novelist, spiritual figure, and above all a man that fit the Roman virtues and other Roman practices to an almost perfect point. Apuleius Madaurensis fits very well into his Roman society due to his wealthy upbringing, his extensive travels, and his defense speech that he delivered in his Apologia. In the early part of the second century CE in Roman North Africa Apuleius first learned learned how to become a proper Roman citizen during his youth.

He was a native of Madaura, an inland town, though he thought of himself as half Numidian and half Getulian because Madaura lay on the borders of those two kingdoms. His father is thought to have been called Theseus and his mother named Salvia. Additionally his mother was from the Thessalian family which descended from the famous Plutarch. Madaura, originally a form of the kingdom of Syp hax, was given to the Romans by their friends, Masinissa.

Madaura then became one of Rome's North African colonies and rose to prominence under Roman control. Apuleius learned the Roman virtues from his father who held the office of duumvir, the highest magisterial position in Madaura. However, after his father's death, Apuleius rose to duumvir himself, and inherited part of the sum of nearly two million sesterce's his father bequeathed to his two sons. After receiving his inheritance he also managed to spend so much of his vast inheritance that he had to sell his clothes in order to defray the costs of his initiation into the mystery cults of Isis and Osiris. After joining these two cults Apuleius utilizing his Roman ideals, began his trek towards a Roman education and his fame (web). Next Apuleius initiated his education at Carthage a well known school of the arts, that had adopted a Platonic system of philosophy.

Apuleius subsequently thereafter perfected his studies in the arts in Athens and then journeyed throughout Italy, Asia, and Greece. After a travel to the Olympic Games he was believed to of run short on money and was compelled to use his wits for his own survival. Thereafter, he returned to Africa and then set forth towards the great libraries of Alexandria (web). Apuleius's affluent upbringing and his journeys throughout the known world shaped him into the man that wrote over 20 works of which only six have survived.

He was beginning to be considered a great Platonic philosopher and a great member of Roman society. None of the doctrines that Apuleius followed placed his actions outside the realm of the accepted Roman norms at the time of his life in the early part of the second century CE. Finally, the greatest reason that Apuleius fit into Roman culture was his successful defense while on trial for black magic. Apuleius was put on trial originally because he became sick on his way to Alexandria while at the seaport O"ea. Sicinius Pontianus, who was a young friend of Apuleius from the college in Athens, invited Apuleius to become the guest of his rich widowed mother. Pudentilla was burdened with a chronic malady, that the doctors proscribed marriage as a proper treatment.

Pontianus then decided that he should be the one to choose who is a suitable man to marry his mother. Apuleius was the man whom Pontianus cajoled to wed Pudentilla. Eventually Apuleius agreed to marry this very wealthy woman because he had lost most of his inheritance during his travels, schooling or through gifts to his teachers and friends. He is believed to of grown some fondness for her however. After his marriage to Pudentilla, the virtuous Roman Apuleius was placed under arrest. The actual charge Apuleius was arrested under was not immediately clear.

Apuleius then forced his accusers to bring about a charge and name the person accusing him of doing this action. They formally brought a charge of magic under the name of Apuleius' newly formed stepson Sicinius Pu dens. The original argument between Apuleius and his foes, however seems to have been solely centered around the problems of Apuleius's money and social status, rather than him actually performing magic. There was obviously no written law against the marriage to a strange older woman thus the prosecution unavoidably had to envision some formal charge on which a legal case against Apuleius could be made.

Unfortunately, things developed in quite a different fashion than the accusers envisioned, Apuleius was an extremely qualified, talented speaker, who was well acquainted with Roman law. This enabled him to deny these allegations and switch their indecisiveness to his own prerogative. Apuleius used this event to raise his reputation as an amazing orator and a tremendous philosopher. Throughout the case Apuleius calls upon countless forms of his culture, and uses them to gain his acquittal. His trial is an example of the fact that Apuleius was a great member of Roman society. Apuleius' own friend and stepson couldn't find anything wrong with his conduct that could be used as evidence to persecute him.

Therefore he had to fabricate a story. Upon completion of Apuleius' reprieve, he secured his very own place as a leader in the example of how a Roman citizen should carry out his everyday life. In conclusion Apuleius Madaurensis tailors very well into Roman society because of his opulent childhood, his expansive travels, and defense speech from his very own trial. In both his childhood and in his later years, Apuleius remains true to the Roman way of life and shows values of Roman and modern day culture. Recent events also suggest that these parallels still exist as unjustly accused people are criticized for living their lives according to their culture. When unjustly accused people are prosecuted, Apuleius should come to mind to show the world that if one man can escape unfair accusations.

Bibliography

Hun ink, Vincent. Apuleius, Apologia. 12 Dec 2002.
web Pollard, Elizabeth. Apuleius. Uni. of Pennsylvania. 12 Dec 2002.
web Slade, Benjamin. Apuleius. 27 Jan 2002.
Johns Hopkins Uni. 12 Dec 2002.